Christina Nicholson found out she didn’t have maternity coverage when researching in-network OB-GYNs. She had been purchasing her own health insurance for $500 a month.
Ms. Nicholson explored other health insurance options, like joining her husband’s employer-sponsored plan, but doing so would have added $1,000 a month to her family’s premium costs. Plus the employer-sponsored plan had a large deductible, according to WINK.
Ms. Nicholson determined her out-of-pocket costs under the employer-sponsored plan would have been more than a self-pay price she negotiated with a provider. So she went uninsured and paid about $5,200 for prenatal appointments, labor and delivery with an epidural, and a post-delivery checkup.
The cost isn’t far off from womens’ mean out-of-pocket spending for maternity care under employer-based plans, which was $4,569 in 2015, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs.
Ms. Nicholson said she will continue to go without insurance because the self-pay rate she gets for being uninsured saves her money, according to WINK.
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